Customer Reviews

Middletown, America: One Town's Passage from Trauma to Hope

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I live in Rumson and attend Holy Cross Church, two of the locales that figure prominently in the book. While Ms. Sheehy's insight into our community is sometimes on target, her casual disregard for the names of local institutions, their locations, the spelling of proper names, and other easily-checked facts makes me suspect the trustworthiness of those facts that I cannot verify. Riverview Medical Center becomes Riverview Hospital and moves from Red Bank into Middletown; The First Presbyterian Church at Red Bank becomes Tower Hill Presbyterian Church and moves from Red Bank (it's part of the name, for heaven's sake) into Middletown; and Fort Monmouth moves from Eatontown into Middletown (I detect a pattern here). The two-mile-long manmade deepwater pier at NWS Earle becomes a strip of land extending into the bay (if it was a strip of land, you wouldn't be able to dock battleships there!) Red Bank is described as a town with no center, when in fact it has been lauded nationwide as an example of how an aging downtown can be revived and prosper. These are only a few of the most egregious errors; there are many others.

While only a local may notice or care about these things, the sheer number of them gives me the uneasy sense that Ms. Sheehy had a tale to tell from the start, and that facts could be ignored or massaged (or at least callously overlooked) if they got in the way of the story. A few of these errors turned up in the Vanity Fair article of a year and a half ago that presaged this book. I gave her the benefit of the doubt that the gaffes were the result of deadline pressures, and that her fact-checkers would remedy them by the time the book was released. That obviously didn't happen. As a result, it's hard to trust her reporting or conclusions as a whole.

I found the book well-written, and Ms. Sheehy's telling of the stories of these families' journeys was compelling. She did manage to accurately describe certain aspects of pre- and post- 9/11 Middletown Township. Her prose is vivid & evocative and her social commentary about present-day Middletown as a microcosm of upper middle-class White America is poignant. My problem was that, while probably not diminishing its appeal to the general reader, the book is nevertheless riddled with errors of fact about Middletown's history & and Middletown Township (an area far larger than Middletown) geography. A 4th-generation Middletowner, I left when I was 18 to join the service and have only been back to visit family. The fact that I am an African American, and that my ancestors owned a substantial portion of the land making up Middletown would surely surprise anyone who reads this book, as would the fact that streets are named after our family and a Center for local history & memorabilia bears our name. "The Story of Middletown," a book available in the Middletown Public Library, credits my Great, Great Uncle Clinton with founding this town. The ignoring of the historical African American presence in Middletown starting in the late 1800's left me cold and made me think: isn't this omission also a microcosm of America? In her history of Middletown, Ms. Sheehey either intentionally or inadvertantly committed the same sin of omission our American History books have favored by painting a picture rather than taking a photograph & letting the story she wanted to tell shape some of the facts. Nevertheless, I feel the book is still worth reading as a way to more deeply process this traumatic, life-changing turning point in our country. I have a cousin who made it out of the Twin Towers and I do hope this book proves to be helpful to her. I doubt, though, that it will have as healing an effect for her as Ms. Sheehey would have intended, given the insignificant role African Americans ostensibly play in her history of "Middletown, America," a town one of her black reader's ancestors arguably founded.

As the second anniversary of 9-11 approached, I decided to purchase Middletown, America. Living in New Jersey, I thought it might be an interesting perspective of the events from those who lived near me. I had no idea how compelling, touching and truly rewarding this book would be and it actually changed my perspective on life. As many of us have "moved on" from the events of 9-11, Gail Sheehy brings into focus the broken lives of many who will never recover fully, and the enormous strength of all of these families to build a life again. After reading this book, I don't think I will ever want to complain about anything ever again!

I lived through the events of 9/11 and its aftermath in the town itself. Reading this mostly well-written book (I noticed the errors also) was a form of therapy for me. It helped me to remember and come to terms with my feelings of those times.

When the Oklahoma bombing occurred, it was an event that made me sad, but that did not impact me from a personal perspective. 9/11 was a different story, and Ms. Sheehy captured the feelings of those involved in that day and afterwards. I suffered no personal losses, but in a sense was a survivor also. The book helped me to realize that.

I also recalled the activities of the FAVOR group, of which I was a member. I was not very active in the group, but was so honored to be involved with that wonderful group of women.

So for those who would really like to understand how it was for those living in the township, I would recommend this book highly. And I'd recommend it to those living in the area as a form of catharsis.

What was meant to be a tribute to those lost on September 11 becomes a fictitious story and those who are citizens merely characters in this tall tale. I fond this book to be quite offensive especially when falsely categorizing the members of my community, Middletown New Jersey. Gail Sheehy may have researched our community but she missed in her portrayal instead stereotyping our High School as that filled with Valley Girls and our community leaders as small minded. In the end she came up with a novel that focus only on the negative aspects of a few rather than the vast majority.

I was going to leave a comment instead of a review because I have not yet read this book. However, since several reviewers referred back to the supposed errors, I'm writing this general review. I grew up in Holmdel and Little Silver, two neighoring towns. The church noted is and always has been called Tower Hill 1st Presbyterian Church. They even call themselves by that name. It's a bit of a landmark in that area (though, I don't know if it's an official landmark). Riverview Hospital may now, in these metro times, be called Riverview Medical Center, but it was Riverview Hospital for all the years I lived there and, I believe, was built with that name. As well, Fort Monmouth was its own zip code and not in Eatontown. Historically, Middletown Township covers a very vast area. My guess is that the author, Sheehy, used historical data for her book.

I don't know or have an affiliation with the author or her publishing co. I just saw these reviews and thought them to be erroneously unfair. For many years, I commuted via train to NYC with many of the people who perished on 9/11 and a dear friend's nephew (a Cantor Fitzgerald employee) was one of the first to be found. Those losses pain me to this day and I would not want anyone who might find solace with this book to be dissuaded by the negative reviews.

I've lived here all my life, and it is disappointing how Sheehy characterizes the area. I'm not talking about getting names and places wrong (which she does often), but getting the feel of the town wrong. She makes it seem like Middletown is filled with 2 types of people: low-class lifelong residents or high-class NYC transplants. To say that the town was "disconnected" before 9/11 and then "joined" after is not the case. Sheehy also continually links Middletown to the neighboring town of Rumson, and I am not sure why.

The book is also much too long. Half the pages could have been sufficient.

I live in Red Bank, New Jersey which is next to Middletown. Her numerous sloppy errors of detail have been mentioned in other reviews, so I won't revisit them here.

What I find really embarrassing for the author, is that while researching this book, she installed herself at the Oyster Point Hotel--in Red Bank. Just a holler down the riverfront from Riverview Medical Center (medical center, not hospital, located in Red Bank, not Middletown). The thing is, anybody from this area whom she may have asked to proof her book would have pointed out such glaring errors (and they are many), but apparently, she didn't have enough respect for her subject to go to the trouble. In any case, perhaps such errors could be overlooked in the grander scheme of Sheehy's agenda, but as an area resident, I immediately ceased to trust anything she had to say.

I can only imagine how proud the residents of Highlands would be to have Sheehy label their town as the welcome mat for Middletown! This author just so clearly had contempt for the suburban area she was depicting.

Perhaps one can look at this book as not about Middletown, NJ, but about Anytown, USA. That's fine, but she opportunistically preyed on these poor people, in order to advance her own agenda, and make a little cashola. She's just the kind of toxic outsider no community needs, particularly in the wake of a tragedy.

Thinking that I really couldn't handle reading any accounts of September 11, yet knowing that I should in order to keep the memories alive, I chose to search out books that might offer more of a community perspective as well as leave me with a positive feeling. I chose well.

The first one I read was Braving the Waves - Rockaway Rises... and Rises Again, by Kevin Boyle. It is the account of the community of Rockaway Beach, New York, hit hard by terrorism on September 11 only to be rocked again by tragedy on November 12 of that same year when a passenger jet nosedived into their small neighborhood. Some 260 people were killed that day - yet we hardly remember the incident. Boyle lives in Rockaway and honors his community with his thorough and loving account.

Middletown is about community of a similar yet different sort. Sheehy wisely chose to live in Middletown (an edge Boyle already had in writing his book), in order to really get beyond the surface of the place and its people. An excellent view, and very much recommended!

The author promises "from tragedy to hope". Sadly, after a while this spirals into a political book of blame aimed at the Bush Administration. I thought "hope" would be about being able to move on, not partisan politics. What a drag!